Highlanders Get Jabs In Before Trying To Knock Out Brumbies

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday May 5, 2007

Rupert Guinness in Dunedin

A HEALTH scare caused by two Brumbies players coming down with the mumps has forced the Highlanders to undergo last-minute vaccinations before tonight's Super 14 match between the two sides at Carisbrook.

Twelve members of the Dunedin side were given the shots on Thursday after being told by the Brumbies that Richard Stanford and Luke Burgess had been diagnosed with the illness and quarantined at their homes. After hearing the pair had fallen ill earlier this week in Canberra, a number of Brumbies players were also vaccinated before flying to Dunedin on Thursday.

The Brumbies also informed the ACT and Commonwealth health authorities of their medical status before being given the green light to travel to New Zealand. The Highlanders' response was precautionary, said team manager Greg O'Brien.

"We had to follow the procedures they had followed, so we went through our doctor and local authorities," O'Brien told the Otago Daily Times. "We had to contact each of the players to see whether they had the mumps or been vaccinated against the mumps. So there were plenty of phone calls to their mums."

The finals future of the Brumbies hinges as much on their beating the Highlanders tonight as the results of last night's Crusaders-Chiefs and Western Force-Blues fixtures and tomorrow's Bulls-Reds game.

The Highlanders may have fallen out of the finals race, but they will attempt to turn the match into a fairytale farewell for five of their star players - as the Brumbies did last week for George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Jeremy Paul.

The Brumbies will be wary. In a display of defensive brilliance, they proved last week how the emotion of such an occasion can inspire a team. It may do the same to the Highlanders tonight in what is the last clash before the Otago faithful for props Carl Hayman and Clark Dermody, hooker Anton Oliver, breakaway Josh Blackie and lock Filipo Levi, who will head overseas next year.

"There's a lot to play for. It's going to be a bit of an historic event because it'll be the last Highlanders match for four or five guys," said the 31-year-old All Blacks veteran Oliver. "I think it's the first time since 2001 or 2002 that we've had our last game on Carisbrook, so that's going to be a nice feeling, too."

The Brumbies have never the beaten the Highlanders at Dunedin, giving them the inspiration to shake a second monkey off their backs this season, the other being their maiden win over the Sharks in Durban.

Brumbies captain Stirling Mortlock is fully aware of the challenge they face. The last thing Mortlock was doing last night was calculating what the Brumbies' finals chances were.

Regardless of how those results might affect their finals destiny, Mortlock said nothing would alter their game plan for tonight - that simply being to win the game.

"It won't change our mental application going into the game. We are focused on doing the job on this game alone," he said.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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